Weekly Health Check

According to a report from the Society for Associated Reproductive Technology (SART), 2012 had the highest percentage of babies born in the U.S. through IVF (in vitro fertilization) ever reported. Two thousand more babies were born from IVF clinics than in 2011. The report showed that doctors at clinics performed 165,172 procedures, including IVF, and 61,740 babies were born as a result. Source: sart.org

Moms ignore infant sleep rules

In a recent American Baby Sleep Safety Survey, the results surprised experts, revealing that 73 percent of moms admitted to placing an item inside the crib with their infant, and 28 percent placed their babies on their stomach to sleep.

The survey polled 4,547 mothers with babies age 1 and under. Nearly all the moms (96 percent) said they knew the rules for safe baby slumber, which includes putting a baby to sleep alone, on his back, in a crib. The survey was featured the March 2014 issue of American Baby titled, “How Safe Is Your Sleeping Baby?” The American Baby Sleep Survey was conducted online Sept. 24 through Oct. 7 of last year. The objectives of the study were to show the attitudes and practices regarding babies and sleep safety. Source: safekids.org

Is it stomach flu or appendicitis?

Oftentimes it’s difficult for parents to distinguish if their child has only a bad stomachache or if he has appendicitis, especially if the child is younger and cannot explain the pain. Approximately 80,000 children in the U.S. suffer from appendicitis each year.

Generally, if the pain is the flu, symptoms will subside after 24 hours. However, in appendicitis, the pain will increase in intensity, often causing a person to become immobile, as movement can aggravate the pain. The location of the pain is usually midway between the navel and the right hip bone. Other symptoms include: vomiting, decreased appetite, decreased frequency of stools or changes in mental status. Source: blog.chocchildrens.org

New process leads to safer breast milk handling

After a more than two-year initiative, CHOC Children’s is seeing fewer stored breast-milk errors. According to the hospital’s blog, because of the lack of government regulations, storage of a new mom’s breast milk for later feedings is often not done properly. Therefore, CHOC Children’s redesigned its process so that fewer mistakes will occur. With the help of a $190,00 grant, the hospital has instituted a barcode-tracking system, and plans to implement the same program at CHOC Children’s at Mission Viejo.

In addition to the new system, in February, CHOC began conducting a study to assess if the milk produced by new moms is providing their babies with the nutrients they need. Source: blog.chocchildrens.org

Crowdsourcing funds new avenues for research

Researchers from Cornell University used a crowd-sourcing website to further study the correlation between obesity and behaviors established early in a person’s life. This data-harvesting method was tested to see how this technology could be utilized scientifically – as it is quick, anonymous and inexpensive.

During the two-week online poll (Nov. 8-23, 2012), 532 people answered 59 questions, one of them asked for their body mass index (BMI), which is calculated from a person's weight and height. BMI is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems. In the study, 19 of the questions significantly correlated obesity with BMI. The top three questions were:

When you were a child, did someone consistently pack a lunch for you to take to school?

When you were a child ... did your family primarily prepare meals using fresh ingredients?

When you were a child ... did your parents talk about nutrition?

The exploratory study concluded that a crowd-sourcing website is useful in populating new avenues to research, such in this case concerning obesity, how a parent who packs a child’s lunch relates to a person having a lower BMI. Source: cornell.box.com/ChildhoodBMI

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